I arrived in Macau in 2010. If there was one thing I always heard from journalists working in the territory, it was complaining about the advisers and spokespersons of the various bodies that make up the Macao SAR Government.
In these 10 years, I have also felt the absurd responses on my skin, when there are them, or the endless waiting times for very little or almost nothing at the end of the day. Not to mention when we ask for garlic and answer bunnies, or they just don’t want to know, because maybe it takes work to work.
Safeguarding possible cultural differences and different perceptions of the same reality, what does it mean to be a press officer in Macau?
One of the main premises of the press office is to create extremely trusting relationships with the various journalists and the media. The advisers and spokesmen for our square get off to a bad start. They fail right then and there. I do not know, at least in the press in Portuguese and English, such solid and reciprocal relations. If there are, and don’t tell me in two or three, I would like to know where they are. I will assume mea-culpa, and this is not a problem exclusive to Macau.
Everything remains the same. Nor do I say that it remains worse. It remains the same, at least. Boring bureaucracies, silly procedures, innocuous responses
Therefore, evil comes from the root. Without mutual trust there is no way to work. Neither the advisor is able to present his message, nor does the recipient understand what is intended to be disseminated. And this has nothing to do with translations and interpreter work. This is a battle, also lost. However, I assume, I can’t speak Chinese. Therefore, I respect the work done by those who, with greater or lesser difficulty, speak Portuguese, Chinese or English and so much to get the message across.
Returning to the press office. Generally speaking, advisers are former journalists or public relations. In Macau, it also happens a little. Since, in most cases (and especially in the most important ones, at least from the perspective of the journalist who uses the adviser’s services to know some information), this background in the media world seems to be of little use. Or it will only serve what suits them. Certainly to do everything but benefit journalism. Do you know that role of advisers? IS. Surprisingly, neither are they good for those who pay them.
After 10 years. Everything remains the same. Nor do I say that it remains worse. It remains the same, at least. Boring bureaucracies, silly procedures, innocuous responses. Because if another of the roles of these communication professionals is to watch over the interests of the person being consulted, of the two, one: either the interests are out of order and biased, or simply advising is very expensive, because, due to the constant overruns of journalistic work, one does not see that advice can be found. be doing. It’s just that they don’t look at nonsense.
*Editor of the Portuguese channel of Plataforma
